Approval

1. Prior approval from the Head of Department (where relevant) and the Dean or Director (or in the case of a Dean/Director, their supervisor) must be given before an academic staff member takes on an Individual Consultancy. Failure to obtain this approval may result in disciplinary action under the University's Enterprise Agreement.

2. If any University assets are to be used for Individual Consultancies these must be fully costed by the Business Manager of the Research School, Faculty or University Centre and approved by the Dean or Director (or in the case of a Dean/Director, their supervisor) prior to the commencement of the Individual Consultancy. The academic staff member is responsible for ensuring that these costs are then paid to the University through their Business Office.

3. In the case of intermittent private professional practice (e.g. medicine, law, commerce, music, visual and performing arts) applications may be made annually in advance but are otherwise subject to the approval, time and other provisions of this policy.

4. Individual Consultancies must be approved on an annual basis and therefore if an Individual Consultancy runs for longer than a calendar year or if renewal of an Individual Consultancy takes place, the appropriate approval process must be repeated.

Reporting and accountability

5. On completion of an Individual Consultancy academic staff members are required to provide a signed declaration to their Dean or Director (or in the case of a Dean/Director, their supervisor) stating that they have used University assets in accordance with the approval given at the commencement of the Individual Consultancy and have paid the University the agreed cost of this use. Academic staff members must also certify that they have informed the external organisation for whom they are performing services under the Individual Consultancy that they are acting as individuals and are not representing the ANU.

6. All academic staff members eligible to perform Individual Consultancies under the 52-day rule will be required to report their time (not financial) involvement annually, including nil return, to their Dean/Director (or in the case of a Dean/Director, their supervisor). The approval pro forma will be retained in the office of the Dean or Director (or in the case of a Dean/Director, their supervisor).

7. Each year by 31 March, Deans and Directors (or in the case of a Dean/Director, their supervisor) are required to forward to the Director, Human Resources a statement certifying that they have received annual statements from all their academic staff members in respect of the previous year and providing a brief summary of the number of hours of private work undertaken in their research school/faculty/centre by department.

Forms and Help-Desk

8. The Human Resources Division (HRD) and the Audit Coordinator will maintain appropriate forms for the approval and reporting of work under Undertaking Individual Consultancies and Professional Practice (52-Day Rule) policy. These will be made available from this website (Policies, Procedures and Forms). As the 52-day rule is part of the employment conditions of academic staff, advice on the operation of the 52-day rule will be provided by the Director Human Resources.

9. To assist staff in the implementation of the Undertaking Individual Consultancies and Professional Practice (52-Day Rule) policy, HRD will maintain a policy 'help-desk' facility to provide advice to staff on the operation of the Undertaking Individual Consultancies and Professional Practice (52-Day Rule) policy.